Responses to Akbarally Meherally's site

If you Confess Jesus as Lord

Meherally begins by saying:

In the Epistle of Paul, it reads; "... if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.."; (Romans 10:9-10).
Perceived by the "man of extraordinary faith": One must confess Jesus is God to be saved.

Paul was absolutely correct! Paul confirmed the teachings and words of Jesus Christ. Look at the following passages:

Matthew 10:32-33 : Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Luke 12:8-9 : Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

1 John 4:2 : Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

However, Meherally jumps ahead of himself and confuses the actual text with his own perceptions. The verse only says that it is necessary to confess Jesus as Lord. It does not state "One must confess Jesus is God to be saved" as Meherally claims. We then have to ask what the title "Lord" means, but that is an issue of interpretation which first has to be based on a correct reading of the text. In addition, the above verse is Romans 10:9. Meherally did not quote verse 10 as claimed.

Meherally continues:

The editors of the New Testament have created perplexity and confusion by translating the Greek word 'Theos' (meaning, God) as "Lord" and also translating the Greek word 'Kurios' (meaning, Master, Owner, Head of a house, Teacher) as "Lord".

In the Greek scripture the word used is "Kurios". It does not translate God.

Meherally seems to be the main one confused. I am not aware of any passage in the New Testament where the word "theos" is translated as "Lord". We would be obliged if he could inform us of the basis for his claim. In Romans 10:9a, the word "kurion" is translated "(as) Lord" and the word "theos" in 10:9b is translated as "God". Both of these translations are the correct translations. I know of no translation that translates otherwise. Meherally is correct, "kurios" should not be translated as "God" but he again fails to provide evidence that any translator does this. He fails to present even one passage from any Bible translation that would substantiante his two claims that "theos" is translated as "Lord", or that "kurios" is translated as "God".

Now to the question of interpretation, i.e. what the word "kurios" means.

The word `Kurios' is derived from kuros (which means supremacy). This word is used 748 times in the Bible and has a variety of meanings including: master, lord, possessor and disposer of a thing, owner; one who has control of the person, the sovereign, and the Roman emperor.

Generally, and most important, `Kurious' is a title of honor, respect, and reverence, that a servant uses to greet his master. This title is also given to the Son of God, the Messiah.

I must also add that Jesus IS CALLED Theos is several passages of the Bible

John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord [Kurious] and my God [THEOS].

Note also the following: Because of fear to pronounce the name of God irreverently, the Jews read usually the word "adonai" (the Lord) instead of the name YHWH. Throughout the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures made by Jewish scholars before the birth of Jesus, the tetragrammaton YHWH is consistently rendered by "ho kyrios" (the Lord) as the equivalent to "adonai". This was the main established name/title for God in the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures. Against this background Jesus is called "ho kurios" (THE Lord). The word "kurios" itself does not mean "God", but its use in the scriptures make it unmistakably clear what it means if God's main title is applied to Jesus. It is similar to the Arabic. "ar-Rabb" in the Arabic does not mean "God", it means "the Lord". However, there is only one who deserves that name, the Lord God. No Muslim would dare to call anyone else "ar-Rabb". When speaking about ar-Rabb, it is clear to everyone that Allah is meant. In the same way, it was clear to any Jew, that ho Kurios was God.

Study Supportive Passage: "And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:21-22.

Alright, let us take a look at these verses (quoted in full, not Meherally's truncated version) which does not contain the words Kurios or Theos since it is written in Hebrew, not Greek. Please note the Hebrew terms that are used in this passage and judge for yourself if Mr. Meherally reaches the proper conclusion:

Declare what is to be, present it-- let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD [YHWH - the proper name for God]? And there is no God ['elohiym - the name of God in Genesis which is plural] apart from me, a righteous God ['el - a shorter form of 'elohiym] and a Savior [yasha' - the name Jesus is derived from this word]; there is none but me. "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God ['el], and there is no other.

Note as well, against the background of this passage, that another prominent title of Jesus is "the Savior", also claimed by God exclusively for himself according to Isaiah. The message is clear.

Andrew Vargo

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